Friday, August 22, 2014

a)The assessee claimed depreciation at 40 per cent on tippers. However, the Assessing Officer (‘AO’) held that tippers were part of block of plant and machinery and, thus, the assessee was eligible for depreciation at 25 per cent only.

b)On appeal, the CIT(A) directed the AO to allow depreciation at 40 per cent. The aggrieved revenue filed the instant appeal.

The Tribunal held in favour of assessee as under:

1)It was noticed that the assessee was not carrying out any construction activity, therefore, it could not be said that the tippers were part of block of plant and machinery or construction equipment forming part of plant and machinery.

2)It was also not in dispute that the tippers were given on hire to a company from which the assessee received hire charges. The tippers were registered as vehicles with the registration authority, therefore, these were road transport vehicles and given on hire.

3)Thus, they were eligible for depreciation at 40 per cent instead of at 25 per cent allowed by the AO. – Asstt. CIT v. Ashok Doshi [2014] 47 taxmann.com 390 (Jodhpur - Trib.)